Phil Neville backtracks on Tomas Rosicky 'I'd smash him' comments from Match of the Day 2

Former Manchester United defender said he was only joking

Former Manchester United footballer Phil Neville caused a stir with his Tomas Rosicky comments (GETTY IMAGES)

Phil Neville has backtracked on the controversial comments he made last night while working as a pundit on Match of the Day 2, when he said he would have "smashed" Arsenal midfielder Tomas Rosicky if he tried the no-look pass that he performed in the Gunners' 3-2 win at Brighton yesterday against him.

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In the move for the 34-year-old Czech midfielder's goal, he pulled off the trick of completing a pass while looking the other way, but Neville was not overly impressed.

Neville said on the show: "If that was a training session and somebody did that I'd be first over there and I'd probably look to two-foot him or take him out of the game.

'If somebody did that in training to me, winding me up, I would be straight in there. I'd smash them."

However, the former Manchester United defender, 38, has since claimed that his comments were not meant to be taken seriously after a backlash of angry responses on Twitter.

"The Rosicky "look one way pass the other" piece was tongue in cheek by someone who wasn't capable of doing such!!!" Neville tweeted late last night.

Arsenal supporter and prolific tweeter Piers Morgan quickly responded